Death Has No Master (VIFF 2026): The jungle spares no one

Asia Argento as Caro in Death Has No Master

Courtesy of Game Theory Films

Asia Argento inherits a crumbling cacao estate deep in the Venezuelan jungle, and you can feel the house pushing back from the first scenes. Jorge Thielen Armand's Death Has No Master, a Venezuela/Canada/Italy/Luxembourg co-production that screened at VIFF today, follows Caro, a woman who left for Italy after something traumatic and now returns to reclaim her dignity and sell the 12-acre property. The jungle is already taking the house back, and there are squatters inside.

It's a slow burn, built on an unconventional sound mix and score that was the best thing about it for me. Just when it seems to be settling into a conventional story, it takes a hard left and turns ruthlessly intense. I really liked it.

On the surface, it's about a woman confronting her trauma. Underneath is the history between her family and the people who worked for them, and who actually held power in that house is the question the film keeps pressing on.

Full review when it opens in theatres.